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 1 Judge Stops Water — Basic Story

Rivers can serve many purposes. Some are habitats for many different kinds of fish. They offer people a place
to spend time on the water. They help irrigate crops. One river even provides drinking water for people.
Twenty-three million people get their water from this river. The river water is valuable to everyone in the state.
Now there is a conflict between the fish who use this river and the humans who get their water from it.
In order to use the water for drinking, the water must go through a pumping station. The pumps suck in large
amounts of water and move it to an aqueduct. From there it goes on to treatment plants to be cleaned for
drinking.
Two species of fish migrate in this river. Migrating means they travel through the river on their way to breed.
The salmon and smelts are endangered. The state is required to protect the fish populations. A law called The
Endangered Species Act protects the fish. A group of citizens are concerned about the fish. They say that the
state is not following the law. They claimed that the fish were getting sucked into the pumping station. They
said the fish populations were being damaged. The group has decided to sue the state.
In response, a judge has said the state must stop pumping water from the river. He has given them sixty days to
decide whether to comply with the Endangered Species Act. If the state decides to comply, they will be allowed
to continue pumping. If they don't, they will have to stop using water from the river.
This could be a problem for many people in the state. Humans need the water for drinking and watering crops.
But the laws were designed to protect the wildlife that lives in and around the river. It will be a difficult decision
for the state to make.

 2 Judge Stops Water — Full Story

A Superior Court judge ruled Friday that the state must stop pumping water to more than 23 million
Californians unless the state complies with wildlife protection laws defending endangered fish in the
Sacramento-San Joaquin River delta.
Under the ruling by Alameda County Superior Court Judge Frank Roesch, the Department of Water Resources
did not have the necessary permission to operate the crucial Harvey O. Banks Pumping Plant near Tracy, a
pumping station responsible for transferring water from the delta into the California Aqueduct.
Roesch gave DWR officials 60 days to obtain permission from state wildlife authorities to keep running the
station. The water will keep flowing while the state decides how to respond to the order.
Environmentalists spearheaded by the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance sued the state, claiming the
station pumps sucked in and killed migrating runs of salmon and Delta smelt, impacting a population protected
under the state's Endangered Species Act.
The Banks Pumping Plant is the first pumping plant for the California Aqueduct and the South Bay Aqueduct.
It provides the necessary energy for the California Aqueduct to flow until it reaches other pump stations further
along the aqueduct (80 miles). The station feeds water to more than 23 million Californians as well as thousands
of acres of farmland statewide.
Department of Water Resources officials were reviewing the ruling and have 15 days to file a request with the
judge to overturn his ruling.

 3 aqueduct

a channel that carries water over distances

 4 comply

to follow a rule or law

 5 conflict

to disagree strongly

 6 designed

decided on for a certain goal or purpose

 7 endangered

when there are not many animals of a species left

 8 habitats

the natural environments of animals or plants

 9 irrigate

to supply with water through pipes from a river

 10 migrate

when animals move from one place to another

 11 population

the total number of a species in an area

 12 species

a group of the same kind of animal

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